The organisation of denial: Conservative think tanks and environmental scepticism

Abstract

Environmental scepticism denies the seriousness of environmental problems, and self-professed ‘sceptics’ claim to be unbiased analysts combating ‘junk science’. This study quantitatively analyses 141 English-language environmentally sceptical books published between 1972 and 2005. We find that over 92 per cent of these books, most published in the US since 1992, are linked to conservative think tanks (CTTs). Further, we analyse CTTs involved with environmental issues and find that 90 per cent of them espouse environmental scepticism. We conclude that scepticism is a tactic of an elite-driven counter-movement designed to combat environmentalism, and that the successful use of this tactic has contributed to the weakening of US commitment to environmental protection.

‘The days when the United States was an environmental pioneer … are a distant memory’ (Dryzek et al. 2003, p. 174). After a burst of legislation in the 1960s and 1970s, US environmental protective policy efforts have been in decline (Vig and Faure 2004). The 1992 ‘Earth Summit’ in Rio, in particular, marked an important turning point. The US conservative movement began to see global environmentalism as a threat to US national sovereignty and economic power, and became aggressively anti-environmental. Further, ‘these anti-environmental interpretations … were endorsed, albeit obliquely, by the [George H.W.] Bush administration as it felt the mounting pressures of the 1992 presidential primaries’ (Luke 2000, p. 54).

The elder Bush did not win the 1992 election, but the 1994 Republican takeover of the United States House of Representatives stimulated the continuing US ‘retreat from international environmental agreements’ (Sussman 2004, p. 358) during the 1992–2000 Clinton administration. In addition, the George W. Bush administration – aided by a Republican Congress until 2006 – has taken opposition to environmental protection to unprecedented levels (Cohen 2004; Devine 2004; Kennedy 2004; Pope and Rauber 2004). Vig and Faure (2004, p. 1) suggest that the recent US resistance to environmental protection is a serious concern for transatlantic relations:

the United States and the European Union (EU) are following divergent paths in one of the most critical areas of contemporary policy and governance – protection of the natural environment. Particularly in the past decade, the United States has more often than not appeared reluctant to support new national and international initiatives to regulate human impacts on the environment. While the US led the world in establishing environmental policies and institutions for this purpose in the 1970s and 1980s, in the 1990s it appeared to become a laggard in international environmental politics.

While most visible in the case of climate change policy, US divergence from the EU in environmental matters is wide-ranging (Vig and Faure 2004).

Van Putten (2005, p. 468) has captured the enigma of US backtracking on environmental policy-making:

The most perplexing feature of current federal environmental policy is that public attitudes, compelling science, and pragmatic solutions matter so little. Poll after poll demonstrates that the American people embrace environmental values and support stronger environmental protections. The mobilization of competent scientific expertise to speak with overwhelming consistency about environmental threats, such as global warming and biodiversity loss, is extraordinary and unprecedented. … Yet the prospects for US government leadership on these and other environmental issues is grim. Gridlock appears to be the likely scenario, with the rollback of current environmental policies at least as plausible. How can this be?

In response, pluralist theory would suggest that environmental interest groups must have lost power compared to other interest groups. However, Bosso (2005) has shown that mature US environmental organisations have continued to grow in both memberships and revenues. 1 By these accounts, environmental groups should have at least maintained their relative influence over time as advocacy groups. Nonetheless, US commitments to domestic and international environmental protection have declined at the same time environmental organisations have prospered, indicating the limited utility of the pluralist explanation.

The decline of US environmental leadership undoubtedly has several sources, such as the inverse relationship between the US interest in fostering the globalisation of free markets and its commitment to environmental protection (Conca 2001). Further, Dunlap et al. (2001) show that US conservative elites have become increasingly opposed to environmental protection policies. Pro-environment voting by Republicans in Congress has been declining consistently since 1990, creating a huge and growing gap between congressional Republicans and Democrats that greatly exceeds partisan differences in support for environmental protection among the general public. Finally, the public salience of environmental issues declined dramatically after 9/11, allowing the George W. Bush administration freedom to roll back environmental protection without generating a backlash comparable to that encountered by the Reagan administration (Brechin and Freeman 2004; Dunlap 2006).

We argue that interwoven with and complementing the above factors is an even more crucial issue: the growing power of the US conservative movement since the 1970s and its increasing opposition to environmentalism, environmental science and environmental policy-making. Conservative opposition began in earnest in the early 1990s, when environmentalism clearly became a global phenomenon as symbolised by the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio. Conservative think tanks (hereafter CTTs) – the key organisational component of the conservative movement – and their backers launched a full-scale counter-movement in response to the perceived success of the environmental movement and its supporters (Austin 2002). We suggest that this counter-movement has been central to the reversal of US support for environmental protection, both domestically and internationally. Its major tactic has been disputing the seriousness of environmental problems and undermining environmental science by promoting what we term ‘environmental scepticism’.

After discussing the counter-movement concept, we will explicate our notion of environmental scepticism, and then highlight the significance of CTTs in US politics in general and their impact on environmental policy in particular. Then we will turn to our primary contribution, an empirical examination of the links between CTTs and environmental scepticism – first by analysing the links between think tanks and books espousing scepticism, and next by examining the websites of think tanks interested in environmental issues for evidence of scepticism. (The relevant data are found in Appendices 1 and 2.) We will argue that environmental sceptics are not, as they portray themselves, independent and objective analysts. Rather, they are predominately agents of CTTs, and their success in promoting scepticism about environmental problems stems from their affiliation with these politically powerful institutions.

The conservative counter-movement

While it has a long history, the US conservative movement was energised by mobilising against the gains of the progressive movements of the 1960s and 1970s such as the civil rights, anti-war, consumer rights, women's rights and environmental movements and the growth of the ‘welfare state’. From the 1970s onward, American conservatism has been both a general social movement and the source of several counter-movements aimed at combating various progressive causes (Stefancic and Delgado 1996). As Lo (1982, p. 128) puts it, ‘The new right is a general social movement whose leaders link single-issue campaigns with consistent conservative ideology – free markets, anti-communism, and social conservatism’.

Lo (1982, p. 118) argues that ‘a counter-movement may be defined as a movement mobilised against another movement’, and Meyer and Staggenborg (1996, p. 1631) describe a counter-movement as ‘a movement that makes contrary claims simultaneously to those of the original movement’ it is designed to oppose. While some counter-movements emerge and evolve in opposition to a specific movement (Zald and Useem 1987), as has the ‘pro-life movement’, the US conservative movement has been a generalised source of opposition to a range of progressive causes and ‘liberal’ social policies (social welfare, consumer rights, affirmative action etc.).

In their effort to account for the emergence of counter-movements, Meyer and Staggenborg (1996, p. 1635) highlight the importance of three conditions: ‘[F]irst, the [original] movement shows signs of success; second, the interests of some population are threatened by movement goals; and third, political allies are available to aid oppositional mobilization.’ These conditions suggest why the conservative movement launched a major counter-movement against the environmental movement in the 1990s. First, environmentalism evolved into a strong global movement in the 1990s, highlighted by the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio. Second, the spread of global capitalism via market economies, the privatisation of common property and free trade was jeopardised by this global movement (Conca 2001). This threat, combined with the fall of the Soviet Union, prompted the conservative movement to substitute the ‘green scare’ for the ‘red scare’ (Buell 2003). Third, the growing power of the conservative movement and especially the Republican takeover of Congress in 1994 provided important ‘allies’ for anti-environmental activists (McCright and Dunlap 2003).

Meyer and Staggenborg (1996, p. 1639) provide additional insight into the emergence of conservative opposition to environmentalism when they suggest that ‘The likelihood that opposition to a movement will take the form of a sustained counter-movement is directly related to the opposition's ability to portray the conflict as one that entails larger value cleavages in society’. As environmentalists began to argue that global problems such as loss of biodiversity and climate change indicated that the lifestyles and industrial practices of modern societies were not sustainable, conservative spokespersons responded that environmentalism was a growing threat to social and economic progress and the ‘American way of life’ (e.g., Ray and Guzzo 1993).

The perceived threat to American values and interests posed by environmentalism helped justify the creation of a sustained anti-environmental counter-movement, institutionalised in a network of influential CTTs funded by wealthy conservative foundations and corporations (Austin 2002). While these CTTs sometimes joined corporate America in directly lobbying against environmental policies, their primary tactic in combating environmentalism has been to challenge the need for protective environmental policy by questioning the seriousness of environmental problems and the validity of environmental science. In espousing what we term environmental scepticism, CTTs are promoting counter-claims that directly challenge the claims of the environmental community – environmentalists, environmental scientists and environmentally friendly policy-makers – concerning the problematic state of environmental quality and consequent need for ameliorative action (McCright and Dunlap. 2000).

The conservative movement's growing use of environmental scepticism to combat environmentalism is understandable for two reasons. First, after the Reagan administration's efforts to weaken environmental regulations in the early 1980s provoked a significant backlash from the general public and environmental organisations (Kraft and Vig 1984; Dunlap 1995), conservatives learned that it was safer to question the seriousness of environmental problems and portray environmentalists as ‘radicals’ who distort evidence and exaggerate problems (Buell 2003). Second, several analysts have noted that counter-movements tend to adopt similar tactics to those of the movements they are opposing (Lo 1982, p. 119; Zald and Useem 1987, p. 259; Meyer and Staggenborg 1996, p. 1650). Since environmentalism is unique among social movements in its heavy reliance on scientific evidence to support its claims (Yearley 2005, ch. 8), it is not surprising that CTTs would launch a direct assault on environmental science by promoting environmental scepticism in their efforts to oppose the environmental movement (Austin 2002; Ehrlich and Ehrlich 1996, p. 17).

Environmental scepticism

Environmental scepticism encompasses several themes, but denial of the authenticity of environmental problems, particularly problems such as biodiversity loss or climate change that threaten ecological sustainability, is its defining feature (Jacques 2006).

The first and most fundamental theme of environmental scepticism is a rejection of scientific literature on environmental problems, e.g. on global warming, stratospheric ozone depletion, natural resource exhaustion and biodiversity loss. Sceptics allege that environmental science has become corrupted by political agendas that lead it to unintentionally or maliciously fabricate or grossly exaggerate these global problems. For example, Patrick Michaels, senior fellow in environmental studies at the Cato Institute, in the foreword to Meltdown (Michaels 2004, p. 5), writes: ‘Global warming is an exaggerated issue, predictably blown out of proportion by the political and professional climate in which it evolved. … [T]his book chants a litany of questionable science, over-stated science, poorly reported science, and unwarranted statements by scientists themselves, all on the subject of climate change.’ Michaels is directly contesting climate change science and the acceptance of global warming as problematic.

A second theme of environmental scepticism follows from the rejection of environmental science: the prioritisation of economic, social and environmental problems. Since sceptics see few, if any, environmental problems as serious, they view most environmental protection efforts as illegitimate. Bjørn Lomborg (2001) is the best-known example of a dismissive sceptic who first denies the seriousness of environmental problems, then challenges their priority for public action. After arguing that the ‘litany’ of global environmental concerns is based on myths and exaggerations, he warns: ‘When we are told that something is a problem we need to ask how important it is in relation to other problems. We are forced to constantly prioritize our resources, and there will always be good projects we have to reject’ (p. 9). While Lomborg's major impact has been in his native Denmark, he has been welcomed and promoted by North American conservatives (CEI 2001; Jamison 2004).

A third theme of anti-regulation and anti-corporate liability follows from the low priority sceptics assign to environmental problems and protection. This fits nicely with the goals of the conservative movement to reduce government regulation and corporate liability in environmental matters (Mooney 2005a). While anti-regulation and anti-liability do not define scepticism, they result directly from the first and second themes. In their content analysis of 1995–2000 online news media using the term ‘junk science’, Herrick and Jamieson (2001, p. 14) report that ‘The most striking finding of our content analysis is that an overwhelming majority (84%) of the articles contained an anti-regulatory message or admonition, asserting that a particular policy or regulatory perspective or program should be reversed or opposed because it is based on junk science’. Thus scepticism is focused on potential threats to capitalist accumulation, including scientific support for the precautionary principle. 2

A fourth and final theme is the claim that environmentalism and environmental protection threaten the progress and development embedded in Western modernity. Sceptics see a ‘fantastic story of mankind’ where ‘In the course of the last 40 years, everyone – in the developed as well as the developing world – has become more than three times richer’ (Lomborg 2001, p. 328). Consequently, sceptics strive to defend modernity from environmentalists, who are portrayed as waging a ‘war against progress’ (Meyer 1979). Defending ‘progress’ implies a commitment to the current international distribution of wealth and power centred in the global North (Jacques 2006), as well as the possessive individualism characterising capitalist societies (Jacques 2008).

In summary, environmental scepticism consists of four key themes. First, environmental scepticism is defined by its denial of the seriousness of environmental problems and dismissal of scientific evidence documenting these problems. This primary theme sets environmental scepticism apart from earlier environmental opposition movements like the US ‘wise use movement’ and ‘sage brush rebellion’ (Switzer 1997). Second, environmental scepticism draws upon the first theme to question the importance of environmentally protective policies. Third, environmental scepticism endorses an anti-regulatory/anti-corporate liability position that flows from the first two claims. Lastly, environmental sceptics often cast environmental protection as threatening Western progress.

Conservative think tanks and environmental scepticism

CTTs are non-profit, public policy research and advocacy organisations that promote core conservative ideals such as ‘free enterprise’, ‘private property rights’, ‘limited government’ and ‘national defense’ (Schumaker et al. 1997). Unlike traditional think tanks that aimed to provide reasonably ‘objective’ policy analyses, CTTs are ‘advocacy’ organisations that unabashedly promote conservative goals (Weaver 1988; Fischer 1991). Launched in the 1970s in reaction to social activism and an expanding federal government, CTTs were an institutional answer from American business leaders who during this time ‘voiced fears of “creeping socialism”’ (Austin 2002, p. 79). The strategy was to create an activist counter-intelligentsia to conduct an effective ‘war of ideas’ against proponents of government programmes designed to ameliorate presumed social problems such as poverty (Blumenthal 1986; Fischer 1991). As Allen (1992, p. 90) puts it, CTTs ‘are professional social movement organisations that have been sponsored by economic elites as a means of influencing public opinion and the agendas of political elites’.

What began as an effort by conservatives to counteract the liberal underpinnings of governmental programmes and the progressive social movements of the 1960s and 1970s has been an enormous success, as CTTs have become exceptionally influential in US politics (Blumenthal 1986; Allen 1992; Stefancic and Delgado 1996; Callahan 1999; Krehely et al. 2004). Weaver (1988) suggests that think tanks have flourished in the US because of its relatively weak political parties, the ‘permeability’ of its bureaucratic elites and the division of power between the congressional and administrative branches, while Gellner (1995) argues that think tanks have become ‘party-like institutions’ that promote policy issues and provide personnel for governmental positions.

The central tactic employed by CTTs in the war of ideas is the production of an endless flow of printed material ranging from books to editorials designed for public consumption to policy briefs aimed at policy-makers and journalists, combined with frequent appearances by spokespersons on TV and radio. More than 15 years ago, Allen (1992, p. 104) observed that:

Over the past two decades, the volume of studies and analyses produced by the major conservative policy-research institutions is staggering. Judging from the content of political debate in recent years, there can be little doubt that the cumulative effects of all these books, periodicals, and articles has been to alter significantly both public opinion and the agendas of political elites.

Various analysts have documented the roles of CTTs in promoting crucial conservative policy goals such as supply-side economics, the Strategic Defense Initiative (‘Star Wars’), limits on social welfare and opposition to affirmative action (see e.g., Blumenthal 1986; Stefancic and Delgado 1996; Callahan 1999). Clearly, CTTs have played a major role in moving US politics rightward, both in terms of domestic and foreign policy (Covington 1997; Austin 2002; Krehely et al. 2004). In the process they have become a vital component of the Republican Party's success since the Reagan era, overwhelming in numbers and influence the small number of liberal think tanks inclined to support the Democrats (Allen 1992, p. 105).

A key to the success of CTTs has been their ability to establish themselves as a true ‘counter-intelligentsia’ that has achieved equal legitimacy with mainstream science and academia – both of which have been effectively labelled as ‘leftist’ in order to legitimise CTT's as providing ‘balance’ (Austin 2002). Beder (2001, p. 129) highlights this, noting that even though ‘think tanks have more in common with interest groups or pressure groups than academic institutions’, their representatives ‘are treated by the media as independent experts and … are often preferred to representatives from universities and interest groups as a source of expert opinion’. This has been a particularly notable accomplishment in the realm of scientific and environmental issues because CTTs are populated primarily by economists, policy analysts and legal scholars rather than natural scientists (Fischer 1991); the George C. Marshall Institute is an exception (Lahsen 2005).

The lack of in-house scientific expertise helps explain why CTTs have been quick to form relationships with the small number of academic scientists who support their views, as in the case of ‘climate sceptics’ (Lahsen 2005; McCright and Dunlap 2003). Doing so helps shield the fact that the sceptical position is strongly aligned with conservatism and the economic interests it represents (Austin 2002; Mooney 2005b), thus hiding from the public the underlying source of what appears on the surface to be another ‘policy debate’ among equally qualified experts (Ehrlich and Ehrlich 1996; Lahsen 2005).

As elite social movement organisations that – with the support of conservative foundations and corporations – provide leadership for the conservative movement (Allen 1992; Covington 1997), it is not surprising that CTTs have been in the forefront of the anti-environmental counter-movement. Their efforts are particularly apparent in the area of climate change. For example, Meyer and Staggenborg (1996, p. 1634) note that counter-movements can ‘draw media attention that activates balancing norms in mainstream media’, or the pressure on journalists to present both sides of an issue. As a result of their ready access to media (Dolny 2003), CTTs were able to create a situation in which major media outlets portrayed climate science as an evenly divided debate between sceptics and non-sceptics (Boykoff and Boykoff 2004) employing what McCright and Dunlap (2003, p. 366) term the ‘duelling scientists’ version of the balancing norm. The result is that US media have given disproportionate attention to the views of a small number of global warming sceptics (Antilla 2005; Boykoff 2007), and as a consequence have been significantly more likely than media in other industrial nations to portray global warming as a controversial issue characterised by scientific uncertainty (Dispensa and Brulle 2003; Gelbspan 2004; Grundmann 2007).

As is true of the movements they are opposing, counter-movements seek to influence state structures, capacity and policy (Meyer and Staggenborg 1996) and, in the case of environmental issues in general and climate change in particular, CTTs have clearly been successful in affecting the US government (Armitage 2005). 3 In the sympathetic George W. Bush administration, individuals affiliated with CTTs have been appointed to key governmental positions, most notably Gale Norton as Secretary of the Interior (Nerenberg 2001). In the area of climate change, the Competitive Enterprise Institute sued the federal government twice to suppress the release of the US National Assessment of Climate Change, a comprehensive report begun under the Clinton Administration (Mooney 2007), while the Bush Administration's rhetoric and policy on climate change have consistently echoed the sceptical themes promoted by CTTs (McCright and Dunlap 2003, p. 370; Armitage 2005). Similarly, representatives of CTTs and the sceptical scientists they promote have achieved virtual parity with mainstream scientists representing the IPCC in testifying at Congressional hearings on climate change (McCright and Dunlap 2003).

Austin (2002) documents the important role of CTTs in leading the anti-environmental counter-movement, and then highlights their tactic of promoting environmental scepticism when he argues that they manufacture anti-environmental propaganda to counter the claims of mainstream science regarding environmental problems. Austin and Phoenix (2005) subsequently argue that the George W. Bush administration's resistance to environmental protection indicates the success of this anti-environmental counter-movement (Devine 2004; Kennedy 2004; Pope and Rauber 2004).

Thus, existing literature suggests that the conservative movement, especially via CTTs, has organised a counter-movement to oppose the environmental movement and its supporters. A crucial tactic of CTTs is promoting environmental scepticism to counter scientific claims concerning environmental degradation, and thus the need for ameliorative action. McCright and Dunlap (2000; 2003) document the role of CTTs in contesting climate change, and this paper broadens their focus by examining the efforts of CTTs to challenge the seriousness of environmental problems in general.

Methods

We address two important questions: to what degree is environmental scepticism linked to think tanks within the conservative movement? and how pervasive is support for environmental scepticism in CTTs interested in environmental policy? To answer these questions we conduct two complementary empirical analyses: first, an analysis of the English-language literature espousing environmental scepticism based on our dataset of sceptical books published between 1972 and 2005; and, second, an analysis of generalised support for environmental scepticism by CTTs with an expressed interest in environmental issues, conducted via searches of their websites.

Selecting environmentally sceptical books

The first dataset is a list of the 141 English-language books published between 1972 (we found no earlier examples) and 2005 and assigned an International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 4 that we identified as espousing environmental scepticism. Books were included if they expressed environmental scepticism by denying or downplaying the seriousness of problems such as climate change; stratospheric ozone depletion; biodiversity loss; resource shortages; chemicals and other pollutants in the air, water or soil; threats of trace chemical exposure to human health and the potential risks of genetic modification. Books were not included simply because their authors argued against environmental values. Thus, although Ron Arnold is an environmental sceptic, his At the Eye of the Storm (1982) does not focus on questioning environmental problems and therefore was not included.

We then searched for evidence of relationships between these 141 books and CTTs to examine support for scepticism by the conservative movement. Relationships were established in one of two ways: the author was affiliated with a CTT and/or the book was published by a CTT press. In both cases the information is found publicly and not inferred. Our focus on links between sceptics and CTTs underestimates the conservative ideological underpinnings of environmental scepticism. For example, despite having no discernible ties to a CTT, O'Leary (2003) reflects a strong conservative ideology.

We also noted the country of origin of each book, documented through the lead author's apparent place of residence. This information is inferred from the author's biographical notes.

Our list of sceptical books (reported in Appendix 1) is undoubtedly not exhaustive. Sceptical volumes are easy to overlook, particularly since some are issued by obscure presses, go out of print quickly or have limited circulation intended for a narrow audience. We searched for books via online bookstores, bibliographies of sceptical books and books analysing anti-environmentalism (Rowell 1996; Switzer 1997). We also searched bibliographies of online sceptical articles and looked for reviews of sceptical books. We believe our compilation includes the vast majority of English-language books espousing environmental scepticism.

Selecting conservative think tanks and environmental policy

The second part of our analysis examines CTT positions on environmental issues. In order to systematically select CTTs, we used the Heritage Foundation's website. Arguably the pre-eminent CTT (Allen 1992), the Heritage Foundation is committed to fostering the conservative cause. One way Heritage does this is via the Internet, where it posts lists of conservative policy experts and 561 organisations (www.policyexperts.org). The inclusion of a think tank on the Heritage Foundation's website establishes its conservative credentials and provides face validity for our study population. Content validity of the database is indicated by the fact that all of the organisations identified by McCright and Dunlap (2000; 2003) were found on the Heritage list.

It is possible to locate both think tanks and individual policy experts on the Heritage Foundation's website by searching either by ‘expert’ or by ‘issue’. We searched the ‘organisations’ category by ‘policy issue’ which searches all organisations in the database, including international think tanks. We searched for organisations listing an interest in ‘environment’, ‘environmental policy’, ‘global warming’ and/or ‘climate change’. These searches were conducted in summer 2005, and produced a list of 60 think tanks. We then visited their websites between June and December 2005. At each we determined whether or not the organisation is indeed conservative according to the definition of Schumaker et al. (1997) and that it has at least some interest in environmental issues, or else it was dropped from the list.

Two organisations, the Constitutional Coalition and the Center for Policy and Legal Studies, did not have websites and had to be deleted. Of the remaining 58, only one – the Kansas Policy Research Institute – failed to express a conservative orientation. The KPRI appears to be an academic think tank with a plurality of ideological views, and it was therefore dropped. Finally, we found no evidence of interest in environmental issues on the websites of seven organisations, including four separately listed chapters of the Black Alliance for Educational Options and the F.A. Hayek Foundation in Bratislava, so they were also deleted from the list.

The remaining set of 50 think tanks, their national origin and whether or not they espouse environmental scepticism are shown in Appendix 2. The eight in bold have a specific interest in ‘global warming’ or ‘climate change’ according to their listing in the Heritage Foundation database.

Our population of 50 conservative think tanks interested in environmental issues includes only six outside the US, and no doubt the list is skewed toward Heritage's interest in the US. Nonetheless, the bulk of think tanks are, in fact, thought to be in the US (Abelson 2000). Also, some think tanks that would seem obvious, such as the Cato Institute, are not on the list because they were not coded by the key words used in our search of the database. However, for reproducibility of the study, we have limited our study to those CTTs produced by our search of the Heritage website using the key words noted above.

We then searched the websites of these 50 CTTs for evidence of support for environmental scepticism. We did this in one of two ways. If the website had an internal search, we used it to search for ‘environment’, ‘climate change’, ‘global warming’ and ‘junk science’. Junk science was searched because it is a strong cue for scepticism (Herrick and Jamison. 2001). If there was no internal search capability at the website, we searched the organisation's publications, position papers, press releases and other web pages manually.

If any of the organisation's publications or web material was found to support environmental scepticism, it was coded as sceptical. If no evidence of scepticism was found on the website, the organisation was coded as not sceptical. It is possible that we missed sceptical material for a few of the organisations we coded as ‘not sceptical’, thus generating false negative results; however, this is preferable to generating false positive results by erroneously assuming that these think tanks promoted environmental scepticism.

Findings

Books promoting environmental scepticism

Appendix 1 and Table 1 show that, of the 141 books which promote environmental scepticism, 130 (92.2 per cent) have a clear link to one or more CTTs – either via author affiliation (62 books) or because the book was published by a CTT (five books) or both (63 books). Furthermore, most of the remaining 11 books clearly reflect a conservative ideology, but are not connected to a CTT and are not coded as such here. Indeed, it appears that only one of the 141 books was written by a current self-professed liberal – Greg Easterbrook (1995). 5

Table 1. Think tank affiliations of environmentally sceptical books.

Country	Books with Conservative think tank associations	No conservative think tank associations	Total books
USA	101	9	110
UK	19	1	20
Australia	2	0	2
Canada	1	1	2
Denmark	1	0	1
France	1	0	1
Germany	1	0	1
Netherlands	1	0	1
New Zealand	1	0	1
South Africa	1	0	1
Sweden	1	0	1
Totals	130	11	141
Notes:
1. Entries in bold indicate no evidence found linking the books to conservative think tanks, while italicized entries for book publishers and author affiliations indicate conservative think tank presses and author/editor affiliations with conservative think tanks, respectively.
2. Techcentralstation.com is not a ‘think tank' but is conservative.
3. EAI is a unit of the Danish Government.

It is therefore evident that advocates of environmental scepticism are overwhelmingly conservative, and in a vast majority of cases their books are directly linked to one or more CTTs – whether in the US or abroad. The relationship between sceptic books and CTTs is especially pronounced for books written by non-US authors, as 29 of 31 are linked to CTTs. The fact that many of these books are linked to CTTs in the US suggests that the spread of scepticism internationally has been stimulated or at least assisted by these powerful agents of American conservatism. Of course, our focus on English-language books likely resulted in our missing sceptical volumes published in other languages that are not linked to US-based CTTs. Nonetheless, our results imply that CTTs in the US have helped diffuse environmental scepticism internationally. 6

The timing of sceptical books follows a noticeable trend, as illustrated in Table 2. There is a consistent increase in sceptical literature over time, starting with only six books in the 1970s and 14 in the 1980s. All save two of these 20 are by US authors. The 1990s saw a five-fold increase in sceptical literature over the preceding decade. Further, judging by the number of books published in its first six years, the current decade is on track to surpass the 1990s (see Table 2).

Table 2. Trends in publication of environmentally sceptical books: 1970–2005.

Country	1970s	1980s	1990s	2000–2005
USA	5	13	56	36
UK	1	0	13	6
Australia	0	1	0	1
Canada	0	0	1	1
Denmark	0	0	0	1
France	0	0	0	1
Germany	0	0	1	0
Netherlands	0	0	0	1
New Zealand	0	0	0	1
South Africa	0	0	0	1
Sweden	0	0	1	0
Totals	6	14	72	49

Four of the 11 volumes with no apparent links to CTTs were published in the 1970s, a decade in which only six sceptical books were published. The conservative movement had not yet adopted environmental scepticism. However, Julian Simon's The Ultimate Resource (1981) became a model (see Dryzek 1997) for cornucopian conservative environmental scepticism, and all 14 of the sceptical books published in the 1980s were linked to CTTs. The conservative movement had clearly come to realise the potential of environmental scepticism, but environmental issues probably had lower salience than anti-Communism as the ‘Cold War’ still preoccupied conservatives (Buell 2003, p. 22).

As noted earlier, President Reagan's call for weaker environmental regulation spawned a backlash from the general public and environmental organisations in the early 1980s (Dunlap 1995; Kraft and Vig 1984). Consequently, anti-environmentalists learned that it was safer to question the seriousness of environmental problems and portray environmentalists (and environmental scientists) as ‘radicals’ who distort evidence in order to exaggerate problems (Buell 2003).

The conservative movement and its corporate sponsors had previously learned that industry scientists lack the credibility of government and university scientists in debates on issues such as pesticides and cigarette smoking, so providing political insulation for industry has become an essential role for CTTs (Austin 2002). On climate change, several think tanks have performed this function for companies such as ExxonMobil (Gelbspan 2004; Mooney 2005a; Mooney 2005b). However, the strategy has shifted from defence of single companies or industries (such as tobacco or pesticides) to using sceptics to challenge environmental science in general (Buell 2003; Ehrlich and Ehrlich 1998). A major tactic is to ‘manufacture uncertainty’, raising questions about the scientific basis for environmental problems and thereby undermining support for government regulations (Michaels and Monforton 2005).

Another key factor fuelling the growth of a fully-fledged anti-environmental counter-movement supported by the conservative movement was the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The decline of the USSR made anti-Communism – foundational to US conservatism – increasingly irrelevant (Buell 2003, p. 22) just as environmentalism was emerging as a global force. Meyer and Staggenborg (1996) point out that ‘critical events’ can shape the structure of political opportunity for movements and counter-movements because they ‘focus attention on issues and provide an impetus for social movement mobilization’. The 1992 Rio Earth Summit was a watershed for popular global environmental concern and thus a critical event. It highlighted growing scientific evidence of global environmental degradation and built upon widespread citizen concern (Dunlap et al. 1993) to stimulate efforts to implement a raft of international environmental agreements. Rio reflected a heightened sense of urgency for environmental protection that was seen as a threat by conservative elites, stimulating them to replace anti-communism with anti-environmentalism (Luke 2000).

As reflected in an interview with sceptic Dixie Lee Ray by the Acton Institute (1992), the Earth Summit provided an opportunity to switch conservative attention from the ‘Red Scare’ to the emerging ‘Green Scare’:

R&L: With the world-wide decline of socialism, many individuals think that the environmental movement may be the next great threat to freedom. Do you agree?

Ray: Yes, I do, and I'll tell you why. It became evident to me when I attended the worldwide Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro last June. The International Socialist Party, which is intent upon continuing to press countries into socialism, is now headed up by people within the United Nations. They are the ones in the UN environmental program, and they were the ones sponsoring the so-called Earth Summit that was attended by 178 nations.

R&L: Did you have a specific purpose in attending the Earth Summit?

Ray: I was sent there by the Free Congress Committee, headed by Paul Weyrich. Fred Smith and I were sent down as observers, with reporters' credentials, so we could witness the events. One of the main organisers of the program, Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland of Norway was the assistant executive for the conference. She is also the vice-president of the World Socialist Party. When she was questioned by Brazilian reporters after her talk and asked if what they were proposing didn't have a peculiar resemblance to the agenda of the World Socialist Party she said, ‘Well, of course.’ That was reported in Brazil but not picked up by the American press.

R&L: Did you see a big influence by the radical environmentalists there?

Ray: Oh yes. No question about that, the radicals are in charge. One of the proposals that did indeed pass as part of Agenda 21 proposes that there be world government under the UN, that essentially all nations give up their sovereignty, and that the nations will be, as they said quite openly, frightened or coerced into doing that by threats of environmental damage.

Ray, a powerful conservative elite member in her own right as former director of the US Atomic Energy Commission and governor of the State of Washington, was not an isolated observer. She describes her support from and affiliation with powerful think tank elites in Paul Weyrich and Fred Smith. Weyrich served as the founding president of the Heritage Foundation in 1973–4 among other key positions, and Fred Smith is the founder and head of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI). Rio, therefore, very likely explains why 81 per cent of the sceptical books have been published since 1992.

Also, it is clear that the bulk of English-language environmental scepticism is produced in the US (110 volumes being authored or edited by Americans). As shown in Table 1, 20 books have been written by 11 authors from the UK, but only a trivial number come from other countries. Environmental scepticism, although it is diffusing abroad, thus appears to be primarily a US phenomenon. However, almost none of the books was published by authors outside the affluent industrialised world, indicating that scepticism is distinct to the affluent global North. Scepticism may be Northern because the conservative counter-movement sees itself as defending Northern lifestyles and Northern-dominated economic systems and Northern privileged identity (Jacques 2006; 2008).

Environmental scepticism and conservative think tank websites

We now turn to our analysis of the CTT website data. We find a similar pattern in the websites as in the books. A vast majority of the CTTs interested in environmental issues express support for environmental scepticism, as shown in Appendix 2. Out of the 50 think tanks examined, 45 (90 per cent) support scepticism on their websites and in their publications. Further, consistent with McCright and Dunlap's (2000; 2003) findings, all eight think tanks (highlighted in bold) that have global warming/climate change as a principal interest espouse scepticism and are based in the US.

Only five of the think tanks we studied are not disseminating environmentally sceptical positions. Interestingly, a few of the non-sceptical think tanks advocate conservative but pro-environment attitudes. For example, Environmental Probe, based in Canada, is a staunch supporter of free-market options, but favours environmental regulations when markets cannot provide adequate environmental protection. Nonetheless, our basic finding is that an overwhelming majority of CTTs with an avowed interest in environmental issues support environmental scepticism as part of their broader anti-environmental positions. For example, the American Policy Center derides environmental initiatives on several levels, such as the comments made in John Meredith's (undated, online) article, ‘Al Gore – You Can't Hide – We Charge You with Genocide’: ‘Vice President Al Gore wants to be God. Apparently, he will stop at nothing to advance his global warming agenda even though scientists in ever-increasing numbers are rejecting the unproven theory. One of the ways he intends to do it is by killing innocent Third World babies.’ Another example is the CEI joining with other conservative groups and several conservative lawmakers to sue the Clinton administration over the use of purported ‘junk science’ in a national assessment of global warming impacts (Mooney 2007).

Of course, environmental scepticism encompasses much more than global warming. For example, ‘junk science’ is a favourite topic at the American Council on Science and Health, co-founded by sceptic Elizabeth Whelen who is one of the very few women authors found in the list of books. On the ACSH website Dunn (2004) criticises EPA-funded research used to justify reductions in air pollution published in the New England Journal of Medicine:

The New England Journal of Medicine now vacillates, becoming a propaganda rag on political issues but a scientific paragon when there are no political agendas to consider – lurching from outrageous dust and air pollution junk science to multivariate regression analysis of alternative causes of cerebral edema in diabetics with ketoacidosis. Which will it be?

Summary

Our analyses of the sceptical literature and CTTs indicate an unambiguous linkage between the two. Over 92 per cent of environmentally sceptical books are linked to conservative think tanks, and 90 per cent of conservative think tanks interested in environmental issues espouse scepticism. Environmental scepticism began in the US, is strongest in the US, and exploded after the end of the Cold War and the emergence of global environmental concern stimulated by the 1992 Earth Summit.

Environmental scepticism is an elite-driven reaction to global environmentalism, organised by core actors within the conservative movement. Promoting scepticism is a key tactic of the anti-environmental counter-movement coordinated by CTTs, designed specifically to undermine the environmental movement's efforts to legitimise its claims via science. Thus, the notion that environmental sceptics are unbiased analysts exposing the myths and scare tactics employed by those they label as practitioners of ‘junk science’ lacks credibility. Similarly, the self-portrayal of sceptics as marginalised ‘Davids’ battling the powerful ‘Goliath’ of environmentalists and environmental scientists is a charade, as sceptics are supported by politically powerful CTTs funded by wealthy foundations and corporations.

Given the success of CTTs in promoting environmental scepticism, particularly obvious in the case of climate change (Antilla 2005; Boykoff and Boykoff 2004; McCright and Dunlap 2003; Mooney 2007), it seems reasonable to conclude that the CTT-based countermovement has contributed to the decline of US support for environmental protection in recent decades. The ability of CTTs to influence environmental policy replicates their accomplishments in other policy domains (Covington 1997; Callahan 1999; Krehely et al. 2004; Stefancic and Delgado 1996), and thus should come as no surprise.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Chris Rootes and Bob Brulle for helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper.

Notes

1. Despite the flourishing of organised environmentalism, a purported ‘death of environmentalism’ has been debated in recent years due to the failure of environmentalists to stem the anti-environmental orientation of the federal government – particularly on climate change (Dunlap 2006).

2. Michaels and Monforton (2005) give a history of ‘junk science’ in their explication of ‘manufacturing uncertainty’, a tactic that makes heavy use of environmental scepticism. Also see Freudenburg, Gramling and Davidson's (2008) analysis of ‘scientific certainty argumentation methods’ or ‘SCAMs’.

3. It is admittedly difficult to disentangle the impact on US climate change policy of CTTs from that of the fossil fuel industry, as Exxon Mobil and other corporations have sought to undermine climate science via lobbying and participation in the Global Climate Coalition (GCC) as well as by directly funding CTTs and sceptical scientists. However, analysts such as Layzer (2007, p. 112) note that well after several oil companies stopped challenging climate science and withdrew from the GCC, CTTs not only continued their opposition but decried the ‘fracturing’ of the business community's opposition to climate science and policy. Similarly, comparative US-Canadian and US-German analyses of climate politics and policy also point to the unique role of climate sceptics and their CTT sponsors in helping account for the recalcitrant position of the US (Grundmann 2007; Harrison 2007). Such evidence suggests that CTT opposition to climate and other environmental policies has a firm ideological base that transcends the obvious desire for corporate funding.

4. ISBNs are used to define and control for what is considered a book. Bidinotto's Greeen Machine (1993); Kwong's Protecting the Environment: Old Rhetoric, New Imperatives (1990) and S. Fred Singer's The Greenhouse Debate Continued: An Analysis and Critique of the IPCC Climate Assessment (1992) are examples of sceptical publications that might be considered books, and are tied to CTTs, but have no ISBN and are thus not included. This contributes to our underestimating the number of sceptical publications affiliated with CTTs.

5. Lomborg (2001, p. xix) writes: ‘I'm an old left-wing Greenpeace member …’ (our emphasis). His use of past tense, in combination with Jamison's (2004) description, leads us to assume Lomborg may have been liberal but has since changed his orientation.

6. The role of US CTTs and American sceptics in assisting the spread of scepticism internationally is readily apparent in the realm of climate change. The ‘Leipzig Declaration on Global Climate Change’, a European manifesto denying the seriousness of global warming, ‘emerged from a November 1995 conference, “The Greenhouse Controversy”, cosponsored by S. Fred Singer's Science and Environmental Policy Project and the European Academy of Environmental Affairs in Leipzig, Germany’ (SourceWatch 2008). Singer is a leading US climate sceptic and his SEPP is a major promoter of environmental scepticism (McCright and Dunlap 2003). In addition, several prominent US climate sceptics besides Singer signed the Leipzig Declaration, including Robert Balling, Hugh Ellsaesser, David Legates, Richard Lindzen, Patrick Michaels and Frederick Seitz.

Appendix 1.  

Author(s)/editor(s)	Title	Publisher	Author/editor affiliation with conservative think tank or other overt conservatism	Date of publication
A. United States
Adler, Cy A.	Ecological Fantasies; Death from Falling Watermelons: A Defense of Innovation, Science, and Rational Approaches to Environmental Problems^1	Dell Publishing and also Green Eagle Press	None apparent	1973
Adler, Jonathan H.	Environmentalism at the Crossroads: Green Activism in America	Capital Research Center	Competitive Enterprise Institute; Political Economy Research Center	1995
Adler, Jonathan H.	The Costs of Kyoto: Climate Change Policy and its Implications	Competitive Enterprise Institute	Competitive Enterprise Institute; Political Economy Research Center	1997
Adler, Jonathan H.	Ecology, Liberty and Property: A Free Market Environmental Reader	Competitive Enterprise Institute	Competitive Enterprise Institute; Political Economy Research Center	2000
Anderson, Terry L.	You Have to Admit It's Getting Better: From Economic Prosperity to Environmental Quality	Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University	Property and Environment Research Center (PERC); Hoover Institution; Pacific Research Institute	2004
Arnold, Andrea with J. Jarrette Sandlin	Fear of Food: Environmental Scams, Media Mendacity, and the Law of Disparagement	Free Enterprise Press/Merril	Arnold: Free Enterprise Press/Center for Defense of Free Enterprise	1990, 1998
			Sandlin: None apparent
Arnold, Ron and Alan Gottlieb	Trashing the Economy: How Runaway Environmentalism is Wrecking America	Free Enterprise Press/Merril Press	Arnold and Gottlieb: Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise	1994
Avery, Dennis T.	Global Food Progress	Hudson Institute	Hudson Institute	1991
Avery, Dennis T.	Saving the Planet through Pesticides and Plastics	Hudson Institute	Hudson Institute	1995, 2000
Baden, John A.	Environmental Gore: A Constructive Response to the Earth in Balance	Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy	Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment; Reason Foundation	1994
Bailey, Ronald	Eco-Scam: The False Prophets of the Ecological Apocalypse	St Martin's Press	Competitive Enterprise Institute; Cato Institute	1993
Bailey, Ronald	The True State of the Planet	Free Press	Competitive Enterprise Institute; Cato Institute	1995
Bailey, Ronald	Earth Report 2000: Revisiting the True State of the Planet	McGraw Hill	Competitive Enterprise Institute; Cato Institute	2000
Bailey, Ronald	Global Warming and Other Eco-Myths	Prima Publishing/Forum/Competitive Enterprise Institute	Competitive Enterprise Institute; Cato Institute	2002
Balling, Robert C., Jr.	The Heated Debate: Greenhouse Predictions Versus Climate Reality	Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy	Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow; Techcentralstation.com^2 ; Competitive Enterprise Institute	1992
Barrett, Stephen J. and Ronald E. Gots	Chemical Sensitivity: The Truth About Environmental Illness	Prometheus Books	Both: American Council on Science and Health	1998
Bast, Joseph L., Peter J. Hill and Richard C. Rue	Eco-Sanity: A Common-Sense Guide to Environmentalism	Madison Books	Hill: Property and Environmental Research Center	1994
			Bast: Heartland Institute
			Rue: Heartland Institute
Bennett, Michael J.	The Asbestos Racket: An Environmental Parable	Free Enterprise Press; Merril Press	Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)	1991
Bethell, Tom	The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science	Regnery	Hoover Institution; The Independent Institute	2005
Bolch, Ben W. and Harold Lyons	Apocalypse Not: Science, Economics, and Environmentalism	Cato Institute	Bolch: Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (C-FACT); Independent Institute	1993
			Lyons: None apparent
Bradley, Jr., Robert L.	Climate Alarmism Reconsidered	Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA)	Competitive Enterprise Institute; Cato Institute; Institute for Energy Research	2003
Caruba, Alan	Warning Signs	Merril Press	American Policy Center; Sovereignty International	2003
Coffman, Michael S.	Environmentalism! The Dawn of Aquarius or the Twilight of a New Dark Age	Environmental Perspectives, Inc.	Environmental Perspectives, Inc.; Sovereignty International; National Council for Air and Stream Improvement, Inc.	1992
Coffman, Michael S.	Saviors of the Earth? The Politics and Religion of the Environmental Movement	Northfield (evangelical publishers)	Environmental Perspectives, Inc.; Sovereignty International	1994
Cohen, Bonner R., Steven J. Milloy, and Steven Zrake	American Values: An Environmental Vision	Environmental Policy Analysis Network	Cohen: Consumer Alert; Lexington Institute; National Center for Public Policy Research	1996
			Milloy: Cato Institute
			Zrake: None apparent
DeGregori, Thomas R.	Agriculture and Modern Technology: A Defense	Iowa State University Press	American Council on Science and Health	2001
DeGregori, Thomas R.	Bountiful Harvest: Technology, Food Safety, and the Environment	Cato Institute	American Council on Science and Health	2002
DeGregori, Thomas R.	Environment, Our Natural Resources, and Modern Technology	Iowa State University Press	American Council on Science and Health	2002
Dini, Jack W.	Challenging Environmental Mythology: Wrestling Zeus: Uncover the Truths Environmental Extremists Don't Want You to Know	SciTech Publishing, Inc.	Heartland Institute	2003
Driessen, Paul	Eco-Imperialism: Green Power, Black Death.	Free Enterprise Press/Merril Press	Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise; Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow; Congress of Racial Equality	2003
Duesterberg, Thomas J. and Herbert I. London	Riding the Next Wave: Why This Century Will Be a Golden Age for Workers, the Environment, and Developing Countries	Hudson Institute Press	Both: Hudson Institute	2001
Duesterberg, Thomas J. and Herbert I. London	Beyond the Year 2000: Perspectives on the World to Come	Hudson Institute Press	Both: Hudson Institute	2002
Dunn, James R. and John E. Kinney	Conservative Environmentalism: Reassessing the Means, Redefining the Ends	Quorum Books	Both: National Council for Environmental Balance (Defunct Kentucky CTT);	1996
			Dunn: Property and Environment Research Center (PERC)
			Self-declared conservatives
Easterbrook, Greg	A Moment on Earth: The Coming Age of Environmental Optimism	Viking	Brookings Institution (not conservative)	1995
Efron, Edith	The Apocalyptics: How Environmental Politics Controls What We Know About Cancer	Touchstone/Simon & Schuster, Inc.	Reason Magazine contributing editor; Reason Foundation; Consumer Alert; Self-declared conservative	1984
Foster, Kenneth R., David E. Bernstein, Peter W. Huber	Phantom Risk: Scientific Inference and the Law	The Manhattan Institute/MIT Press	Foster: Manhattan Institute; Fraser Institute	1994
			Bernstein: Manhattan Institute
			Huber: Manhattan Institute
Foster, Kenneth R. and Peter W. Huber	Judging Science: Scientific Knowledge and the Federal Courts	MIT Press	Foster: Manhattan Institute; Fraser Institute	1997/1999
			Huber: Manhattan Institute
Fumento, Michael	Science Under Siege: How the Environmental Misinformation Campaign is Affecting our Laws, Taxes, and Our Daily Lives	Quill/William Morrow	Hudson Institute; Competitive Enterprise Institute; Consumer Alert	1993
Fumento, Michael	Polluted Science: The EPA's Campaign to Expand Clean Air Regulations	American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research	Hudson Institute; Competitive Enterprise Institute; Consumer Alert	1997
Fumento, Michael	BioEvolution: How Biotechnology is Changing Our World	Encounter Books	Hudson Institute; Competitive Enterprise Institute; Consumer Alert	2003
Gots, Ronald E.	Toxic Risks: Science, Risks, and Perception	CRC Press	American Council on Science and Health	1993
Gough, Michael	Dioxin, Agent Orange: The Facts	Plenum Press	Cato Institute	1986
Gough, Michael	Politicizing Science: The Alchemy of Policymaking	Hoover Institution	Cato Institute	2005
Grayson, Melvin J. and Thomas R. Shepard	The Disaster Lobby: Prophets of Ecological Doom and other Absurdities	Follett Publishing	None apparent	1973
Green, Kenneth P.	Global Warming: Understanding the Debate	Enslow Publishers, Inc.	The Environmental Literacy Council; Fraser Institute; Reason Public Policy Institute; American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research	2002
Greve, Michael S. and Fred L. Smith, Jr.	Environmental Politics: Public Costs, Private Rewards	Praeger Publishers	Greve: Competitive Enterprise	1992
			Institute; American Enterprise
Greve, Michael S.	The Demise of Environmentalism in American Law	American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research	Greve: Competitive Enterprise Institute; American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research	1996
Hayward, Stephen F.	The Index of Leading Environmental Indicators, 9th edn	Pacific Research Institute of Public Policy/American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research	Pacific Research Institute of Public Policy; American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research; Hoover Institution	2004
Hayward, Stephen F.	The Index of Leading Environmental Indicators 2005	Pacific Research Institute of Public Policy/American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research	Pacific Research Institute of Public Policy; American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research; Hoover Institution	2005
Hollander, Jack M.	The Real Environmental Crisis: Why Poverty, Not Affluence, Is the Environment's Number One Enemy	University of California Press	None apparent	2003
Huber, Peter W.	Liability: The Legal Revolution and its Consequences	Perseus Books	Manhattan Institute	1990
Huber, Peter W.	Galileo's Revenge: Junk Science in the Courtroom	Basic Books	Manhattan Institute	1991
Huber, Peter W.	Hard Green: Saving the Environment from the Environmentalists – A Conservative Manifesto	Basic Books	Manhattan Institute	1999
Huber, Peter W. and Mark Mills	The Bottomless Well: The Twilight of Fuel, the Virtue of Waste, and Why We Will Never Run Out of Energy	Basic Books	Huber: Manhattan Institute	2005
			Mills: Digital Power Capital & Digital Power Group
Idso, Sherwood B.	Carbon Dioxide: Friend or Foe?	IBR Books (Division of the Institute for Biospheric Research, Inc.; directed by IDSO)	George C. Marshall Institute; Center for the Study of C02	1982
Idso, Sherwood B.	Carbon Dioxide and Global Change: Earth in Transition	IBR Books	George C. Marshall Institute; Center for the Study of C02	1989
Jastrow, Robert, William A. Nierenberg and Frederick Seitz	Scientific Perspectives on the Greenhouse Problem	George C. Marshall Institute/	Jastrow: George C. Marshall Institute	1989 via Marshall;
		Jameson Books	Nierenberg: George C. Marshall Institute; Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)	1990 via Jameson
			Seitz: George C. Marshall Institute, Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
Kahn, Herman, William Brown, and Leon Martel	The Next 200 Years: A Scenario for America and the World	Wm. Morrow	Kahn: Hudson Institute	1976
			Brown: None apparent
			Martel: Hudson Institute
Kaufman, Wallace	No Turning Back: Dismantling the Fantasies of Environmental Thinking	Basic Books/iUniverse	The Property and Research Center (PERC)	1994, 2000
Lehr, Jay H.	Rational Readings on Environmental Concerns	John Wiley & Sons, Inc.	Heartland Institute	1992, 1997
Lichter, S. Robert and Stanley Rothman	Environmental Cancer – A Political Disease?	Yale University Press	Lichter: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research; Center for Media and Public Affairs	1999
			Rothman: Center for the Study of Social and Political Change at Smith College
Logomasini, Angela and David Riggs	The Environmental Source	Competitive Enterprise Institute	Logomasini: Competitive Enterprise Institute; Heartland Institute	2002
			Riggs: Competitive Enterprise Institute
London, Herbert I.	Why are they Lying to our Children?	Stein and Day Publishers	Hudson Institute	1984
Maduro, Rogelio A. and Ralf Schauerhammer	The Holes in the Ozone Scare: The Scientific Evidence That the Sky Isn't Falling	21st Century Science Associates	Both: 21st Century Science Associates	1992
Mathieson, M. Mihkel	Global Warming in a Politically Correct Climate: How Truth Became Controversial	Writers Club Press (2000); iUniverse (2004)	The Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change	2000, 2004
Maurice, Charles and Charles W. Smithson	The Doomsday Myth: 10,000 Years of Economic Crisis	Hoover Institution Press	None apparent	1984/1987
Mendelsohn, Robert O.	The Greening of Global Warming	American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research	None apparent	1999
Meyer, Herbert E.	The War Against Progress	Storm King Publishers	None apparent	1979
Michaels, Patrick J.	Sound and Fury: The Science and Politics of Global Warming	Cato Institute	Cato Institute; Consumer Alert	1994
Michaels, Patrick J.	Meltdown: The Predictable Distortion of Global Warming by Scientists, Politicians, and the Media	Cato Institute	Cato Institute; Consumer Alert	2004
Michaels, Patrick J.	Shattered Consensus: The True State Of Global Warming	Rowman and Littlefield	Cato Institute; Consumer Alert	2005
Michaels, Patrick J. and Robert C. Balling Jr.	The Satanic Gases: Clearing the Air About Global Warming	Cato Institute	Michaels: Cato Institute; Consumer Alert	2000
			Balling: Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow; Techcentralstation.com;^2 Competitive Enterprise Institute
Miller, Henry I. and Gregory Conko	The Frankenfood Myth: How Protest and Politics Threaten the Biotech Revolution	Greenwood Publishing Group/Praeger	Miller: Hoover Institution; Competitive Enterprise Institute; George C. Marshall Institute; American Council on Science and Health; Consumer Alert; National Center for Policy Analysis.	2004
			Conko: Competitive Enterprise Institute
Milloy, Steven J.	Science without Sense: The Risky Business of Public Health Research	Cato Institute	Cato Institute	1995
Milloy, Steven J.	Junk Science Judo: Self-Defense Against Health Scares and Scams	Cato Institute	Cato Institute	2001
Milloy, Steven J. and Michael Gough	Silencing Science	Cato Institute	Both: Cato Institute	1999
Moore, Cassandra Chrones	Haunted Housing: How Toxic Scare Stories Are Spooking the Public Out of House and Home	Cato Institute	Competitive Enterprise Institute; Cato Institute	1997
Moore, Stephen and Julian L. Simon	It's Getting Better All the Time: 100 Greatest Trends of the Last 100 Years	Cato Institute	Moore: Cato Institute; Free Enterprise Fund	2000
			Simon: Cato Institute; Heritage Foundation
Moore, Thomas Gale	Environmental Fundamentalism	Hoover Institution Press	Competitive Enterprise Institute; The Independent Institute; Hoover Institution; Cato Institute	1992
Moore, Thomas Gale	Global Warming: A Boon to Humans and Other Animals	Hoover Institution Press	Competitive Enterprise Institute; The Independent Institute; Hoover Institution; Cato Institute	1995
Moore, Thomas Gale	Climate of Fear: Why We Should Not Worry About Global Warming	Cato Institute	Competitive Enterprise Institute; The Independent Institute; Hoover Institution; Cato Institute	1998
Moore, Thomas Gale	In Sickness or In Health: The Kyoto Protocol versus Global Warming	Hoover Institution Press	Competitive Enterprise Institute; The Independent Institute; Hoover Institution; Cato Institute	2000
Murray, David, Joel Schwartz, and Robert S. Lichter	It Ain't Necessarily So: How the Media Make and Unmake the Scientific Picture of Reality	Rowman and Littlefield	Murray: Statistical Assessment Service (STATS) at George Mason Center for Media and Public Affairs	2001
			Schwartz: Reason Public Policy Institute; Hudson Institute
			Lichter: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research; Center for Media and Public Affairs; STATS
O'Leary, Richard	Environmental Mafia: The Enemy is Us	Algora Publishing	None apparent	2003
O'Rourke, P.J.	All the Trouble in the World: The Lighter Side of Overpopulation, Famine, Ecological Disaster, Ethnic Hatred, Plague, and Poverty	The Atlantic Monthly Press	Cato Institute	1994
Ottoboni, M. Alice	The Dose Makes the Poison: A Plain-Language Guide to Toxicology	Vincente Books, Incorporated/John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (2nd edn)	American Council on Science and Health	1984 via Vincente Books;
				1997 via John Wiley and Sons
Parsons, Michael L.	Global Warming: The Truth Behind the Myth	Da Capo Press and Insight Books/Plenum Press	None apparent	1995
Rabkin, Jeremy A. and James M. Sheehan	Global Greens, Global Governance	Institute for Economic Affairs	Rabkin: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research; Cato Institute	1999
			Sheehan: Competitive Enterprise Institute
Ray, Dixie Lee and Louis Guzzo	Trashing the Planet: How Science Can Help Us Deal with Acid Rain, Depletion of the Ozone, and Nuclear Waste (Among Other Things)	Regnery Gateway (self-proclaimed conservative publisher)/HarperPerennial	Ray: Free Congress Committee/Foundation;	1993 via Regnery;
			self-declared conservative	1994 via Harper-Perennial
Ray, Dixie Lee and Louis Guzzo	Environmental Overkill: Whatever Happened to Common Sense?	Regnery Gateway (self-proclaimed conservative publisher)/HarperPerennial	Ray: Free Congress Committee/Foundation;	1993 via Regnery;
			self-declared conservative	1994 via Harper-Perennial
Rubin, Charles T.	The Green Crusade: Rethinking the Roots of Environmentalism	The Free Press-MacMillan/Rowan and Littlefield	Marshall Institute; Ashbrook Center	1994 via the Free Press;
				1998 via Rowman and Littlefield
Sanera, Michael and Jane Shaw	Facts, Not Fear: Teaching Children about the Environment	Regnery Publishing (self-proclaimed conservative publisher)	Sanera: Competitive Enterprise Institute	1999
			Shaw: The Property and Environment Research Center (PERC); Association of Private Enterprise Education
Schwartz, Joel	No Way Back: Why Air Pollution Will Continue to Decline	AEI Press	American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research	2003
Seitz, Frederick	Global Warming and Ozone Hole Controversies: A Challenge to Scientific Judgment	George C. Marshall Institute	Science and Environmental Policy Project; the George C. Marshall Institute; Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow	1994
Simon, Julian L.	The Ultimate Resource	Princeton University Press	Cato Institute; Heritage Foundation	1981
Simon, Julian L.	Population Matters: People, Resources, Environment, and Immigration	Transaction Publishers	Cato Institute; Heritage Foundation	1990
Simon, Julian L.	The State of Humanity	Blackwell Press and Cato Institute	Cato Institute; Heritage Foundation	1995
Simon, Julian L.	The Ultimate Resource 2	Princeton University Press	Cato Institute; Heritage Foundation	1996
Simon, Julian L.	Hoodwinking the Nation	Transaction Press and Cato Institute	Cato Institute; Heritage Foundation	1999
Simon, Julian L. and Herman Kahn	The Resourceful Earth: A Response to Global 2000	Blackwell Press	Simon: Cato Institute; Heritage Foundation	1984
			Kahn: Hudson Institute
Singer, S. Fred	Global Climate Change: Human and Natural Influences	Paragon House/International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences (Founded by conservative Sun Myung Moon)	Science and Environmental Policy Project; Independent Institute; American Council on Science and Health; Cato Institute; National Center for Policy Analysis; Natural Resource Stewardship Project; Hoover Institution; Heritage Foundation	1989
Singer, S. Fred	Hot Talk, Cold Science: Global Warming's Unfinished Debate	The Independent Institute	Science and Environmental Policy Project; Independent Institute; American Council on Science and Health; Cato Institute; National Center for Policy Analysis; Natural Resource Stewardship Project; Hoover Institution; Heritage Foundation	1998
Singer, S. Fred	Climate Policy – From Rio to Kyoto: A Political Issue for 2000 and Beyond	Hoover Institution Press	Science and Environmental Policy Project; Independent Institute; American Council on Science and Health; Cato Institute; National Center for Policy Analysis; Natural Resource Stewardship Project; Hoover Institution; Heritage Foundation	2000
Soon, Willie, Sallie Baliunas, Arthur B. Robinson, Zachary Robinson, and Laura Jones	Global Warming: A Guide to the Science	The Fraser Institute	Soon: Marshall Institute	2001
			Baliunas: Marshall Institute
			Robinson and Robinson: None apparent
Staudenmayer, Herman	Environmental Illness: Myth and Reality	CRC Press	None apparent	1999
Taylor, Paul	Green Gone Wrong: Ecopolitics Exposed	Writers Club Press	None apparent	2001
Wattenberg, Ben J.	The Good News is the Bad News is Wrong	Simon & Schuster	American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research; Hudson Institute	1984
Whelen, Elizabeth M. and Fredrick J. Stare	Panic in the Pantry: Facts and Fallacies about the Food You Buy	Simon & Schuster/Prometheus Books	Whelen: American Council on Science and Health; Consumer Alert, Heartland Institute	1975 via Simon and Schuster/
			Stare: None apparent	1992 via Prometheus
Whelen, Elizabeth M.	Toxic Terror: the Truth Behind the Cancer Scares	Prometheus Books	American Council on Science and Health; Consumer Alert, Heartland Institute	1985/1993
Wildavsky, Aaron B.	But is it True? A Citizen's Guide to Environmental Health and Safety	Harvard University Press	The Independent Institute; Science and Environment Policy Project (SEPP)	1995
B. United Kingdom
Bate, Roger	What Risk? Science, Politics, and Public Health	European Science and Environmental Forum/Butterworth-Heineman (Elsevier)	Institute for Economic Affairs; Competitive Enterprise Institute; American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research; Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow European Science and Environmental Forum; Africa Fighting Malaria	1997
Bate, Roger	Life's Adventure: Virtual Risk in a Real World	Butterworth-Heineman (Elsevier)	Institute for Economic Affairs; Competitive Enterprise Institute; American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research; Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow European Science and Environmental Forum; Africa Fighting Malaria	2000
Bate, Roger and Julian Morris	Global Warming: Apocalypse or Hot Air?	American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research	Bate: Institute for Economic Affairs; Competitive Enterprise Institute; American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research; Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow European Science and Environmental Forum; Africa Fighting Malaria	2000
			Morris: Institute for Economic Affairs, International Policy Network
Beckerman, Wilfred	Small Is Stupid: Blowing the Whistle on the Green	Gerald Duckworth.	The Independent Institute	1995
Beckerman, Wilfred	Through Green Colored Glasses: Environmentalism Reconsidered	Cato Institute	The Independent Institute	1996
Beckerman, Wilfred	A Poverty of Reason: Sustainable Development and Economic Growth	The Independent Institute	The Independent Institute	2002
Boehmer-Christiansen, Sonja and Aynsley Kellow	International Environmental Policy: Interests and the Failure of the Kyoto Process	Edward Elgar	Boehmer-Christiansen: None apparent	2002
			Kellow: The Institute for Public Affairs (‘The leading Australian free market think tank’)
Emsley, John	The Global Warming Debate: The Report of the European Science and Environment Forum	European Science and Environmental Forum	European Science and Environmental Forum	1996
Le Fanu, James	Environmental Alarms: A Medical Audit of Environmental Damage to Human Health	Social Affairs Unit	Social Affairs Unit	1994
Maddox, John	The Doomsday Syndrome: An Attack on Pessimism	McGraw Hill	None apparent	1972
Mooney, Lorraine and Roger Bate	Environmental Health: Third World Problems – First World Preoccupations	European Science and Environmental Forum/Butterworth-Heineman (Elsevier)	Mooney: Africa Fighting Malaria; American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research	1999
			Bate: Institute for Economic Affairs; Competitive Enterprise Institute; American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research; Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow European Science and Environmental Forum; Africa Fighting Malaria
Morris, Julian	Climate Change: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom	Institute for Economic Affairs	Institute for Economic Affairs; International Policy Network	1997
Morris, Julian	Rethinking Risk and the Precautionary Principle	Butterworth-Heineman (Elsevier)	Institute for Economic Affairs; International Policy Network	2000
Morris, Julian	Sustainable Development: Promoting Progress or Perpetuating Poverty	Profile Books Unlimited	Institute for Economic Affairs; International Policy Network	2002
Morris, Julian and Roger Bate	Fearing Food: Risk, Health, and Environment	Butterworth-Heinemann	Bate: Institute for Economic Affairs; Competitive Enterprise Institute; American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research; Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow European Science and Environmental Forum; Africa Fighting Malaria	1999
			Morris: Institute for Economic Affairs, International Policy Network
North, Richard D.	Life on a Modern Planet: A Manifesto for Progress	Manchester University Press/	Institute for Economic Affairs	1995
		St Martin's Press in the US
O'Hear, Anthony	Nonsense about Nature	Social Affairs Unit	Social Affairs Unit	1997
Ridley, Matt	Down to Earth: A Contrarian View of Environmental Problems	Institute for Economic Affairs	None apparent	1995
Ridley, Matt	Down to Earth II: Combating Environmental Myths	Institute for Economic Affairs	None apparent	1996
Stott, Phillip	Tropical Rain Forest: A Political Ecology of Hegemonic Mythmaking	Institute for Economic Affairs	None apparent	1999
C. Australia
Daly, John L.	The Greenhouse Trap	Bantam Books	The Greening Earth Society (defunct CTT created by Western Fuels Association)	1989
Kininmonth, William	Climate Change: A Natural Hazard	Multi-Science Publishers	The Lavoisier Group, Inc	2004
D. Canada
Baarschers, William H.	Eco-Facts and Eco-Fiction: Understanding the Environmental Debate	Routledge	None apparent	1996
Essex, Christopher and Ross McKitrick	Taken by Storm: The Troubled Science, Policy and Politics of Global Warming	Key Porter Books	McKitrick: Fraser Institute; Cooler Heads Coalition (formed by the Competitive Enterprise Institute)	2002
			Essex: Cooler Heads Coalition
E. Denmark
Lomborg, Bjorn	The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World	Cambridge University Press	Environmental Assessment Institute;^3 Cooler Heads Coalition (formed by the Competitive Enterprise Institute of the US Congress, funded his trip for briefing) Fraser Institute	2001
F. France
Leroux, Marcel	Global Warming: Myth or Reality?	Springer-Praxis Books	21st Century Associates via French language magazine, Fusion	2005
G. Germany
Weber, Gerd R.	Global Warming: the Rest of the Story	Bottiger Verlags-GmbH.	Center For a Constructive Tomorrow (C-FACT)	1991
H. Netherlands
Labohm, Hans, Simon Rozendaal, and Dick Thoenes	Man-Made Global Warming: Unraveling a Dogma	Multi-Science Publishing Co., Ltd	Labohm: Natural Resources Stewardship Council (Canadian CTT) and Techcentralstation.com^2	2004
			Rozendaal: None apparent Thoenes: None apparent
I. New Zealand
Gray, Vincent	Greenhouse Delusion: A Critique of ‘Climate Change 2001’	Multi-Science Publishing Co., Ltd	Natural Resources Stewardship Council and Techcentralstation.com^2	2002
J. South Africa
Tren, Richard and Roger Bate	Malaria and the DDT Story	Institute for Economic Affairs	Tren: Free Market Foundation; Institute for Economic Affairs; Africa Fighting Malaria; Competitive Enterprise Institute	2001
			Bate: Institute for Economic Affairs; Competitive Enterprise Institute; American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research; Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow European Science and Environmental Forum
K. Sweden
Gerholm, Tor Ragnar	Climate Policy After Kyoto	Multi-Science Publishing Co., Ltd.	Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)	1999

Appendix 2.  

Conservative think tank	National location	Environmental scepticism espoused
Environmental Probe	Canada	No
Rio Grande Foundation	USA	No
Center for Public Justice	USA	No
Texas Conservative Coalition	USA	No
American Association of Small Property Owners	USA	No
American Policy Center	USA	Yes
Fraser Institute	Canada	Yes
Institute for Contemporary Studies^2	USA	Yes
National Legal Center for the Public Interest	USA	Yes
Weidenbaum Center	USA	Yes
American Council on Science and Health	USA	Yes
Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment	USA	Yes
Reason Foundation	USA	Yes
Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy	USA	Yes
Project 21	USA	Yes
National Center for Policy Analysis	USA	Yes
Capital Research Center	USA	Yes
Competitive Enterprise Institute	USA	Yes
FreedomWorks Foundation	USA	Yes
George C. Marshall Institute	USA	Yes
Heartland Institute	USA	Yes
Junkscience.com^3	USA	Yes
American Policy Center	USA	Yes
South Carolina Policy Council	USA	Yes
The Independent Institute	USA	Yes
National Wilderness Institute	USA	Yes
Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty	USA	Yes
Discovery Institute	USA	Yes
The Philanthropy Roundtable	USA	Yes
Ethan Allen Institute	USA	Yes
The Centre for the New Europe	Belgium	Yes
The Greening Earth Society^4	USA	Yes
Statistical Assessment Service	USA	Yes
The Eudoxa Think Tank	Sweden	Yes
Alliance for America	USA	Yes
Alliance for America Foundation	USA	Yes
Frontiers of Freedom	USA	Yes
Frontiers of Freedom Institute	USA	Yes
The Molinari Economic Institute	France	Yes
Washington Policy Center	USA	Yes
Small Business and Entrepreneuership Council Foundation	USA	Yes
Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council	USA	Yes
International Policy Network	UK	Yes
Mountain States Legal Foundation	USA	Yes
PERC – Property and Environment Research Center	USA	Yes
The Science and Environmental Policy Project	USA	Yes
Institute for Study of Economics and the Environment	USA	Yes
Institute for Research on the Economics of Taxation	USA	Yes
The Centre for the New Europe	USA	Yes
Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT)	USA	Yes
Notes:
1. The eight think tanks shown in bold have a specific interest in ‘global warming’ or ‘climate change’ as indicated by their listing in the Heritage Foundation's database.
2. Coded sceptical for the publication of Singer (1992), which has no apparent ISBN and is therefore not listed in Appendix 1.
3. The status of JunkScience.com as a non-profit think tank is unclear, so here we follow the Heritage Foundations categorization of ‘policy expert organization’ that implies it is a think tank.
4. The Greening Earth Society website notes that it ‘expired’ February 2007, but may continue at a later date.